Monday extraction team arrives to remove protester

A contingent of more than 30 California Highway Patrol officers arrived early Monday morning to remove protester Will Parrish from his perch about 60 feet above ground in a wick drain stitcher machine. Parrish set up camp in the machine located in the northern sector of the Highway 101 bypass around Willits on June 20. Two extraction teams equipped with climbing gear rode up to the protester’s elevation in manlifts as a helicopter hovered overhead. The remaining officers formed a blue wall to keep protesters at bay. Media personnel were specifically excluded from the extraction area by CHP orders, TWN learned from a CalTrans source. The initial removal effort apparently hit a snag when the saw officers brought to separate Parrish from the machine appeared from the ground not to be working as expected.Parrish was equipped with a “lock-down device” bonding his arms to the machinery. Similar devices were used by earlier protesters at ground level. The extraction crew switched to a box grinder and began throwing sparks and by 10:55 a.m. Parrish was in custody. According to scanner reports he was taken to Frank R. Howard Memorial Hospital for medical evaluation before expected transport to the Mendocino County Jail. Toward the end of the activity Amanda Senseman, the original tree sitter was arrested for trespassing, according to sources at Save Our Little Lake Valley. “This individual put himself and others at risk and delayed construction by trespassing. With the ongoing hot weather forecast we were concerned about health and safety,” says CalTrans spokesman Phil Frisbie. The operation was authorized several days ago, says Frisbie. CalTrans is still investigating the June 26 incident, according to Frisbie. Ground observers witnessed a second machine sitter being shaken violently by a machine operator during an effort by protesters to resupply Parrish.An effort on Thursday by a local physician to speak with Parrish about his health was rebuffed by the CHP. “Will Parrish had not requested the doctor’s visit,” says Frisbie and it was determined the visit was not needed. CalTrans had arranged for a CHP officer to do an evaluation, says Frisbie.